The Hat Experiment
by Prieda Solo
Summary: The Four Founders. Just a little fic mostly from Helga's POV about the formation of the Hat and the roles of the different houses. Written in an attempt to work out the psycology of the Hat. Oneshot.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the intellectual property of J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this. 

The Hat Experiment

'Right.' Godric held out the hat, all full of self importance. 'Ladies first.'

Helga eyed it doubtfully. She'd never been certain this was a good idea. Surely the main aim of the wizarding school was to bring wizards together, not split them apart. The whole Hat Experiment had been Godic's idea, but Salazar's fault. 'Are you sure this will work?'

'There's no reason why it shouldn't.' Salazar grinned at her and raised an eyebrow. 'Don't you trust it?'

'We've got to make the stipulations within the next ten minutes.' Rowena was impatient. They'd been working at this for months, and she wasn't about to have it all wasted because of Helga's indecisiveness. Briskly she stepped forwards placing her wand against the hat brim.

'I will take only those students who are intelligent.' Inwardly Helga rolled her eyes as a bolt of light shot into the centre of the hat where it glowed faintly. What a surprise. As far as Rowena was concerned, Hogwarts should only be for the most intelligent students, picking them out and training them to be of some use to the wizarding world.

'Helga.' Godric sounded impatient. 'We haven't got all day.'

She stepped forward. What was she going to say? Unlike the other three she had no clear, bold opinions on the types of children that deserved to be taught by the school. It was a _school_, for teaching everybody, allowing every child the chance to learn.

What could she choose? What types of pupils did she deem worthy of acceptance? She placed her wand on the edge of the hat.

'Ummmm.' Rowena tutted in the background. 'I will take only those students who are, er, willing to work.' She wondered if this would clash with Rowena's stipulation. 'Those who are friendly and loyal. But…' she looked worriedly at Godric, 'I don't want to leave anyone out…'

The light flew from her wand. She stepped back, feeling awkward. Was that the right thing to do? Salazar was looking slightly confused, Rowena annoyed.

'Right, my turn.' Godric stepped forward with a flourish. 'I will take only those students who show… true bravery!' Again the light shone from the end of the wand. If Godric heard Salazar's snigger as it did so, he ignored it.

And, last of all, Salazar Slytherin. Helga felt her throat constrict as he stepped forward. This was the part she'd been dreading. _Don't say pureblood, don't say pureblood, Godric will have an aneurism._

He paused for effect and laid his wand down slowly on the hat brim, staring at the three circles of light shining inside. Helga realised she was holding her breath. This was typical Salazar, all theatrics and melodrama, smoke and mirrors. She thought back to her own rather confused contribution to the Hat Experiment and sighed. The others had managed it so well, and she'd probably messed it all up.

It was like the colours. Godric had said 'red' at almost the same time Salazar had said 'green' and that had left yellow and blue. Rowena didn't like yellow, and Helga had to admit she wasn't too fond of it either, but Rowena had chosen first. Then they'd had to pick a second colour, to make the banners work properly, and there had been a huge fight between Godric and Salazar over who should have gold. It had eventually been decided when Godric had threatened a duel, and Salazar had capitulated with bad grace.

Then Salazar and Rowena had sniped for days over who would have silver as their second colour. Salazar had won eventually, when Rowena had become tired of the whole affair. And Rowena had chosen bronze, leaving Helga with the choice between black or iron. Then Salazar had complained that iron looked too much like silver.

Black and yellow. How had she ended up with that? But between preventing all out war between Godric and Salazar, trying to get Rowena to cooperate, attempting to sort out the building plans for the castle while everyone else worried about the wretched banners she had simply not had the time to think.

She was needed. She took comfort in that. Because Slytherins need rungs to get up the ladder, and Ravenclaws need someone to show their work to the real world and Gryffindors need people to clean up after the heroics are over. But would History remember that? It was the clever, the foolhardy and the powerful who were remembered, not those people who had spend hours upon hours of their life, slaving away at a job they knew to be necessary, just to make the world that little bit easier for other people.

She was brought back to reality as Salazar's words, barely spoken above a whisper, crept out into the night air. 'I will take only those student with great ambition…' He looked around at their faces. Helga looked relieved, Godric satisfied.

Rowena hissed, 'You're the last one, finish the spell.'

He smiled 'And…' his wand tip trembled slightly on the edge of the hat 'Preferably pureblood.' Rowena's eyes opened wide, there was a gasp from Helga and an angry shout from Godric but by then it was too late as he spoke the incantation to seal the spell and the hat fell tumbling from Godric's hands to lie in a heap on the floor.

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Just my interpretation. Good idea? Bad idea? Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The characters and situations belong to J.K Rowling and Warner Bros. I do not make any money from these fics. 

Notes: I have thought of a good acronym to describe my stories. EWP. Essays With Plot. I pretty much use my stories mostly to explore characters and situations, hope you enjoy!

Chapter two

Helga sat down on one of the benches in the deserted classroom and tried not to cry. It wasn't just the fact that Salazar had left, but more the atmosphere he'd left in. The whole chain of angry, arguing days that stemmed from the end results of the Hat Experiment.

She'd never heard Godric shout that much before. He'd always been, well, not exactly the easiest person to get on with, but still cheerful enough in a hearty sort of way. And Salazar had a tendency to make sarcastic comments at inappropriate moments, but they'd never actually fought, not properly, not until that morning.

She wondered if she should have done something to stop it. But she'd been so busy, and assumed it would all blow over eventually. Rowena had never treated it seriously, as far as she was concerned it was of minor importance compared to the construction of the school. It would never occur to Rowena that other people would have different priorities than her.

Helga busy, Rowena locked in her own little world, and the two men had wound each other up higher and higher, both stepping forward each time because it would never, ever, occur to them to step back. The Hat Experiment had been the climax of a problem that had been going on for much longer.

It wasn't even about the mudb-muggle born's either. Salazar was worried about them, but they all had been really, not certain whether this new influx of wizardry from an unknown source was dangerous or not. Then Godric had decided that they should be let in regardless. Salazar had narrowed his eyes at that, because it was typical of Godric to make decisions for all of them; Rowena never minded, and Helga wasn't bothered but Salazar…

It had annoyed him. So he'd made a stand. And then Godric had made a stand against it. And pretty soon it hadn't really mattered what the stand was about. Muggles, banners, they would argue about anything. Each was determined not to back down.

She remembered the argument. Salazar shouting 'So you'll be the mudblood house will you? That's what you want your House full of? That sort of scum?'

Godric had drawn himself up at that 'Yes. Even they have the right to be taught!'

She remembered Rowena looking slightly impressed, and then Salazar had muttered 'Right!' and stormed off, all temper and anger and unspoken threats.

She'd felt close to tears. It hadn't been helped by Godric putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and saying 'Don't worry Helga. He's slithered off like the snake he is.'

It was the closest she'd ever come to hexing Godric. She'd wanted to scream at him, that it was as much his fault as Salazar's. That if Salazar was a snake, then he was a lion and what did lions do except pose, protect their territory and let their females get on with all the actual work.

She'd shrugged his hand off her shoulder and left. Behind her, she'd heard him telling Rowena that he'd always known Salazar would turn out bad.

Why had they split? Why had it all fallen apart? It had started off as one school, and ended up as four different houses. Would that even work? A house full of people like Salazar would be awful, they'd get more and more obsessed with power, ambition and pureblood ideals. Rowena's house won't be much better, a group of people all obsessed with marks and grades, introverted. Ravenclaws need friends to show them the real world occasionally.

What about her house? The house for people who weren't brave, or ambitious, or clever. They would get on with each other fine but what about the other houses? Would they be looked down on, mocked, for having no obvious positive attributes?

And a house full of little Gryffindors? She giggled at the thought. Well, that would be fun to watch. Bravery is closely linked to stupidity, and linked even more closely to superiority. She wouldn't be surprised if there were a good few bullies in that house.

She thought: Godric's a bully. But he doesn't realise it. He never imagines people harbouring resentment because it's not something he'd do. He doesn't realise that Salazar remembers every word, every action, even if it wasn't meant to wound. And Slytherin harbours a grudge. It's not beyond him to seek out some form of revenge, even for something which, when you really stop and think about it, is actually quite trivial.

She sighed and stood up. What on earth would people think of them? Would they paint Godric as evil? Salazar? She hoped not. They weren't evil, not really, just two very opinionated people with different ideas who'd both felt threatened. She hoped people would remember the beginnings, the time when they'd worked together. Perhaps in the future the houses would merge again, although now they'd made the Hat it seemed unlikely.

How would people remember her? She thought of the stories she'd been told of famous wizards of the past. Would she be some wise, kind, gentle woman, with eyes that contained great wisdom? Would they draw portraits of her dressed in gorgeous finery (and she reflected with a sigh that she'd probably be wearing yellow). Would she be seen as weak? Or would they record the truth, that in reality Helga Hufflepuff was just a confused old bat who tried hard but was rubbish at making decisions, and spent most of her time dressed in dark brown robes covered in dust and grime from construction work.

She wandered through the castle, admiring their work. It had been Rowena's idea, and Rowena had convinced Godric, whose infectious enthusiasm had won over her and Salazar. Would anyone remember those early days? When the four of them would collapse in the tent every evening, weary but excited, and Rowena would pour over the plans, trying to work out how to make a round turret out of square bricks, with Godric chattering excitedly over her shoulder. She'd be sitting in the corner with Salazar, pouring out some wine, and making notes about their progress, how much had been built, how much would need to be changed, what the tasks would be for tomorrow. Then Rowena would look up and ask whether they could make the floors out of marble and Salazar would pinch the bridge of his nose and try to remember anyone he knew who could deliver several tons of marble to an unspecified location within the week.

They worked better together. They'd worked best together.

Helga hoped that someone would remember that.

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This is probably the last chapter. There isn't much more to write really. I wrote it because I sometimes get a little fed up of Brave!Godric, Evil!Salazar and WiseUnderstanding!Helga. In reality they were all just people. And people are pretty much the same.

I've just realised that Godric in this is like a cross between young James Potter and Lockhart. Oh well. I kind of like him that way.

I am so much like Rowena in this fic it is unreal. _(Waves little Ravenclaw flag.)_


End file.
